Joey Barton banned from football for 18 months for betting offences

Joey Barton has been banned from all football activity for 18 months after accepting an FA charge relating to betting.

Barton is alleged to have placed 1,260 bets over a 10-year period from 2006. The Burnley midfielder accepted a misconduct charge in February, but facing a lengthy ban requested a personal hearing.

However, the 34-year-old did not sidestep a long suspension and has also been hit with a £30,000 fine. Barton has confirmed that he will appeal the length of the ban, saying that the decision had effectively 'forced him into early retirement'.

A statement on the FA website read: "Joey Barton has been suspended from football and all football activity for 18 months with immediate effect after he admitted an FA misconduct charge in relation to betting.

"It was alleged that between 26 March 2006 and 13 May 2016, he placed 1,260 bets on the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of, or occurrence in, football matches or competitions in breach of FA Rule E8.

"Following the Independent Regulatory Commission hearing, the Burnley midfielder was also fined £30,000 and warned as to his future conduct."

Barton said, via a statement on his official website: "I am very disappointed at the harshness of the sanction. The decision effectively forces me into an early retirement from playing football. To be clear from the outset here this is not match fixing and at no point in any of this is my integrity in question.

"I accept that I broke the rules governing professional footballers, but I do feel the penalty is heavier than it might be for other less controversial players. I have fought addiction to gambling and provided the FA with a medical report about my problem. I’m disappointed it wasn’t taken into proper consideration. I think if the FA is truly serious about tackling the culture of gambling in football, it needs to look at its own dependence on the gambling companies, their role in football and in sports broadcasting, rather than just blaming the players who place a bet."

"If the FA is serious about tackling gambling I would urge it to reconsider its own dependence on the gambling industry. I say that knowing that every time I pull on my team’s shirt, I am advertising a betting company."